Yeah, that was me🤭 Forgot to sign the ask. Onto other news - I love the Aldercapt soulmate thing, and Cor absolutely freaking out about her having to be so close to Gilgamesh. And Prompto as a time travelling found brother is both hilarious and perfectly devious - how much canon will survive by the end? Because he is not going to let Bahamut nor Ardyn to mess up his King. Oh, will he be there when Ardyn unleashes Ifrit on Insomnia? IgnisFelicis
Yeee this ask is so old I’m SORRY.
But to answer- Cor freaking out because his soulmate is suffering the consequences of his stupidity was great fun. And on Prompto as the time-traveling brother-
*waggles eyebrows* canon will be WRECKED by the end. Watch him save Noctis from his fate before he’s even born, even if he has to break into Angelgard and forcibly purify Ardyn himself to do it.
In other news, Ardyn is incredibly sore, incredibly confused and pretty sure he’s dreaming this up as he gets dragged out of angelgard, nearly burned alive with magic from an apologetic blond, then gently nursed back to health by a fussing young man who looks like he could be Somnus’s son and a Retinue who are alternating between fussing over him and fussing over the blond that almost killed him with magic (who is now shivering in a sleeping bag, burning up with fever).
And maybe Ardyn is insane or dreaming, or just a fool, but when he is aware of himself enough to register the blond gasping and shaking from fever, he reaches out on instinct to HELP, because even broken as he is, he is still a healer, and he is mind is the clearest it’s been in ... a very long time.
He gently tries to pull out a sickness, and is stunned when instead wary, half-feral magic (the magic that burned the scourge from his veins with a vengeance) rises up to snap warningly at him. “How is this possible?” Ardyn whispers as he gently accepts the warning snaps and continues to coil his own magic around the feral one, soothing and calming until the magic stops making such a high fever in its host, “He is not a Lucis Caelum, yet he bares such magic.”
“That,” says the man who looks like he could be Somnus’s son warily, “is a ... very long story. Prompto said your name is ... Ardyn?”
“Ardyn Lucis Caelum,” he agrees, just as cautious as he eyes this man who is clearly a nephew, and wonders how many years it has been (if this is not some kind of dream about to turn sour), “and you are...?”
“Regis. I- Prompto only told us you were here a week ago, I didn’t even know-,” Regis looks at Ardyn with something heavy in his gaze (Regis looks on this shaking, scarred, broken man out of time who apparently went mad and brought the world to ruin, yet in this life already shows kindness in trying to heal Prompto of his fever, even though the first thing Prompto did after they got Ardyn down from those meathooks was reach out and burn the Scourge out of Ardyn’s veins with agonizing magic power), “I was never told you were here. Or I would have come sooner.”
Ardyn lets that sit between them, then slowly, shakily sits down next to the blond (who’s magic is slowly settling, slowly calming under his touch) and accepts the mug of tea offered him by the dark-skinned member of the Regis’s group, “...Who are you? Are you Somnus’s...” he hesitates to say son, because Regis is dressed strangely, and Ardyn has no idea how long it’s been. Even though he feels weak and shaking, he does not feel OLD, but with the Scourge so thick in his veins until recently, who knows if he was able to age at all in his prison, “grandson?”
Regis looks sad, “...I’m afraid you’ve been in there for ... a lot longer than that.”
Ardyn feels a part of his soul go cold.
(It takes a long time to help Ardyn, and parts of him will never truly heal, they all know. But in this life, in this time, Ardyn is purified by Prompto’s borrowed magic, and in this time he has not a mad scientist and his proddings but a family. A young nephew many times removed who loves history and a heart big enough to love even this man, who in a future untold killed Regis’s son. A Retinue who are not afraid of him, who help him acclimate to the strange new times as they travel, who shield him from the war as best they can, and who aren’t afraid to touch his hands or hold him close on the days he shakes from his grief and old rage and pain.
And Ardyn is still angry at Somnus, and likely always will be, but Regis is not Somnus, and the Scourge is not there to cause hallucinations. Regis is not Somnus and Regis is KIND. Prompto, the young man who carries another king’s magic in his soul, is kind. And Ardyn is willing to ... try. To live in this strange new time. If only for their sake.
And if he cares about them enough help them in Altissia to forge a lasting, secret alliance, if he wants to protect them strongly enough he wades into war against men in metal armor and machines that groan like old bones, if he grows brave enough to walk with Regis to the city that has sprung up since Ardyn’s imprisonment and help Regis shield Prompto from Mors...
If he grows to love this family so deeply he cries from it years later when Regis’s son is born and Ardyn holds the infant nephew in his arms-. Well.
He thinks he is allowed that. After all he’s been through.)